Pain and blood in my knee

Hello,

I sat down in my chair and pulled myself closer to my desk. I rammed my knee into the corner of the metal desk. Needless to say I saw stars. I have had problems with my left knee before and it always got better with strengthing exercises and R.I.C.E. This time though it has swollen and pained me ALOT. I have a high tolerance to pain. I was walking 1 week later in New Orleans(there for a seminar) and the pain in my knee got so bad that I could not even put my foot down because it caused excrutiating pain in my knee. And I have pullng of muscles from the knee down my calf and up into the back of my thigh. Thought maybe my sciatica was bothering me again(I do see a chiropractor for issues with my L4,L5,S1). The ER gave me crutches and pain meds and told me to see my Dr. when I got home. I live in PA. My ortho took x-rays and they looked fine even for arthritis. I have osteoarthritis in the rest of my body. He has me scheduled for an MRI later this week to rule out a meniscus tear. He thinks this because before he gave me a cortizone shot in the knee, he drained fluid and found alot of blood. He stated that he may have to do arthroscopic surgery if in fact it is a meniscus tear. My 2 questions are... why was there alot of blood in the fluid (it did surprise the Dr). And can surgery be avoided with physical therapy. Thank you for your time. Lynne

The blood is due to trauma to the ligaments inside the joint. Knee joint has 6 ligaments viz. medial collateral, lateral collateral, anterior cruciate, posterior cruciate, medial meniscus and lateral meniscus. There is joint fluid and also cartilage. Injury to the knee will result in blood in the joint space and so it the fluid red. It will get absorbed subsequently.

With MRI or good clinical examination the orthopedician can come to diagnose the ligament involved.

You can consider physiotherapy and conservative therapy so discuss with your orthopedician. But with severe arthritis and cartilage loss surgery is the only option.

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